Tainted Silver
-Chapter 17-
They were two separate sides of the deceased woman, two phases of her life. Knots were tight in all throats except for the miko woman that looked upon them with disdain. In this woman's mind they were pathetic, they had known that there would be casualties. She'd told them that she was possessed by the youkai, of course he would use her to protect himself. That, however, wouldn't go down well anymore. Now, they were more prone to believe that any words that had passed her lips were lies and would turn on her.
His golden eyes alighted upon her and felt fear for the first time. One that is so accustomed to causing fear is surprised by the feeling of helplessness and weakness caused by a greater power, strength.
"You enslave us," he began cooly, "curse us, spit upon us, and then deny us of our salvation and love?"
She cocked her head jaggedly, "You are a youkai, you cannot feel."
"Then why send an army to kill me if it will not hurt me? Why kill her?"
"My purpose was not on killing the woman-."
"Yes, it was," he interrupted, "because you knew very well she could love me, she could release every single one of us."
She attempted to back away but two of the village men grasped her firmly by her arms.
"You lied to us when you said we were coming to save her," one said painfully squeezing her.
The other applied pressure to the opposite side as well, "You said they were dangerous, volatile, and out to kill us."
"You knew we would kill you."
Claws stretched out, his stance was rigid. Mind clouded with confusion, his only purpose to avenge. Warm blood slowly coagulated against healing flesh, was the woman still struggling?
Pitchforks had dropped in guilt, many slapped by the reality of their actions. They'd killed a woman that day. The presence of children made their grief all the greater, they did not understand, they still begged the still body to awaken.
"She's not gonna wake up, huh?"
"Yes she will," growled the older, his hands fisted.
The boy peered up angrily, "How? Magic beans? A kiss from some stupid prince?"
Hours later, he couldn't do it. The villagers left quietly and the priestess was locked in the dungeon. Kagome's body was forced away from his arms, he was dully aware of her fading scent. The house was quiet, devoid of the usual charisma.
Should've told her.
But he hadn't. All he had were the scratches she'd left on his skin as her body slid to the ground. He wished they would never fade, forever his reminder of the girl his youngest brought home.
/Villagers/
They dragged the old man back to the village, kicking and screaming.
"Can't we just tell him?" one of the older boys asked angrily.
"And have Kagome haunt us for giving him a heart attack?" InuYasha growled. "No thank you."
"We could always explain it was for a good cause," he muttered. "Sanity."
"I'd be happy if she haunted me, " Kouga sighed, receiving a sharp slap to the head by Ayame.
"She's dead," Ayame retorted haughtily, "and therefore it's time to move on to greater things."
Kouga looked at her defeatedly, "Too bad I don't see any."
"I want my granddaughter, hooligans!"
Kikyou slapped her forehead, "Shut him up already!"
"And there goes another reason as to why I would never marry Kikyou," Inuyasha muttered under his breath.
Kouga walked up to his side and jabbed him in the ribs, "I couldn't agree more."
"Hooligans!" the old man screamed viciously. "No respect for the elderly!"
One of the men raised a thick torch over the old man's head with a desperate look.
"Takako! Put that down! And for Kami's sake jii-chan, shut up!"
The old man waved a fist in his direction with an angry expression.
The village was up ahead, some of the women that had stayed behind were cooking, if the smoke above the trees was any clue.
/Sesshomaru & Kagome/
Holding a loose, cold hand made his thoughts dwell on death, obviously. He watched her intently, forcing himself to believe that she would wake up and smile any second.
"Sess-."
"Shh! You'll wake her up Sango," he said hurriedly.
She looked taken aback, perhaps because he'd never cared if someone was taken from their slumber. He could hear her bawling down the hallway in her husband's arms. Tracing circles on her pale palm, he noted how long her nails were. He grimaced, for a human they were unusually long and clean. The more he stared, the more they began to look inhumane, claw-like. The exhaustion of the passing hours were distorting the beauty of the dead woman, his mental capacity. His head hit the pale sheets and sighed, drifting into restless slumber.
Wisps of hair curled longer until they brushed the floor, contrasting against the soft silver dust. Ears slightly grew cartilage became pointed upwards slightly. Bones constricted against each other, harshly shoving against each other to create a smaller figure, a thinner waist-line. Blood rushed backwards and then forcefully shoved forward, the veins becoming smaller. All in all, the face of the fluctuating creature became pale, almost dead. The roots of its hair darkened, engulfing itself in black. A gut-wrenching scream pierced the air savagely in pain and disappeared into thin air.
/Midoriko & Crazy Guy/
"Wonder what she's screaming for," contemplated the insane man across from the flustered priestess.
"I don't know, nor do I care," she snapped. "Now shut up."
"Now, now lad! No need to take such tone with the elderly, bring yourself bad Karma you know?"
"Lad!" she screamed in indignation. "I'll have you know I'm a female, a miko!"
"Of course you are boy, who isn't?"
"I employed a fool," she growled. "I should've known that man could not do something correctly."
"Now don't go around slandering your gender!"
"I am a woman!" she screamed, launching an attack against the insane man.
"Boy!" he squealed, throwing up his arms to cover his face. "Rape won't solve anything!"
"Hey!"
Both looked to the bars of their cell, hair askew, and limbs attached to limbs in pincer grips.
"What's rape?"
"Well, lad-."
The miko dropped her elbow into the man's nose, "Shut up, children should not know of these things!"
"Well then," Rin continued, "what's sex?"
The miko looked up appalled, "What kind of-. Is this a whore house!"
Rin looked down for a minute, her face scrunched up in thought. She looked back up with a smile.
"What's a whore house?"
/Sesshoumaru/
He stared in blind fascination the screams of a dead woman, eyes shut in pain, hands blindly groping sheets that were steadily ripping into pieces.
"Sess-."
All of their eyes fell on the chaos that was Higurashi Kagome, the screaming dead.
-Uhh... Slowly coming to an end, right?-